Zcash Locks In 2,413% Yearly Gain as Price Reaches Ten-Year High

Privacy token Zcash ($ZEC) has extended its rally, reaching a high of $1,290 early Wednesday to lock in a one-year gain of 2,413%.

At the time of writing, $ZEC was trading up 10.55% in the last 24 hours to $1,282, a price level it last traded at in November 2016. The privacy token is now up 57.23% weekly.

Zcash's rally has often coincided with pennant breakouts. At the start of September, Zcash resolved a bullish pennant, which led to its surge higher. The cryptocurrency started rising from a low of $804 on September 3. The surge took a breather after $ZEC reached $1,257 on September 6, with bulls resuming after the brief pause.

The privacy coin is currently on one of the most impressive runs in the crypto market, especially among older digital assets. $ZEC has risen 154% in the last 30 days and is up 2,413% on a one-year basis, according to CoinGecko data.

The year-long rally has pushed Zcash's market cap to $21.62 billion, retaining the privacy coin among the top ten cryptocurrencies.

Zcash's current surge coincides with increased buying pressure from whales, or large holders. According to Lookonchain, three wallets, possibly belonging to the same whale, spent 3,700 $ETH—about $9.23 million—and 2 million $USDC to buy 8,994 $ZEC worth $11.23 million. Lookonchain noted that these wallets are still buying.

In the last 24 hours, Zcash's open interest has increased 15.47% to $2.91 billion, indicating new money entering the derivatives market. A short squeeze may have also aided Zcash's rally; about $11.52 million in shorts were liquidated in the last 24 hours, while longs came in at $2.33 million, according to CoinGlass data.

Zcash ETF options trading goes live

Zcash also reached a major milestone with the first options market on a US-listed privacy asset ETP.

Zcash ETF options have gone live on NYSE, according to a recent announcement. Dubbed the world's only Zcash fund, ZCSH has just surpassed $500 million in AUM, now holding over 550,000 $ZEC.

Grayscale's Zcash ETF began trading on NYSE Arca under the ticker ZCSH on August 25, giving brokerage investors a way into $ZEC without a wallet.